the circle

[instar]

Trouble and Charlie fly to Las Vegas to get their collections of drunks. Ax, newly empigeoned, and Ethan loosely follow Renée's car back to Phoenix, so that Ax will not be stranded in an unfamiliar city obliged to demorph into Andalite form with no garage to hide in.

Renée makes a very large grocery trip. Ax deems alfalfa hay intended for consumption by guinea pigs and rabbits to be the hoof-eating equivalent of palatable; it also turns out he can eat a few other things, like carrot tops and turnip greens. He still doesn't like living in the garage, even though it's a different one. Andi finds him a little planetarium gadget that throws star-patterns onto the ceiling.

Renée installs a cot in the basement for Charlie. (His generic human morph is a man about ten years younger than him, plausibly Latino but just as plausibly not, plain and unremarkable. He also picks up a Renée morph. He will be able to drive the girls places, publicly know their names. They can tell he appreciates the opportunity, however weird it is.) Trouble is allowed to sleep on the couch, when Renée learns that he would prefer not to share the basement with Charlie.

Bella sews weights onto all the curtain hems so they won't be easily nudged aside.

The twins also collect generic-human-morphs. Both of theirs are college-age women, samples collected from going on premature college tours and shaking a lot of hands - Bella's looks maybe half Asian when she's done tweaking it, Andi winds up with a complexion much like her usual one but a surprisingly Hawaiian set of features.

Renée never asks to be enabled to morph. Bella eventually offers, "for emergencies", and Renée aggregates a number of her co-workers into the most stereotypical teacher-lady it is possible to Frolis into without requiring vision correction.

Renée makes the arrangements well in advance to homeschool the twins.

Bella quizzes Ax about all sorts of things, for large parts of each day.

Comments

[megale]

"I'm not, I just inhaled a fur. A hair? Why is it only fur when there's lots?"

[aeskhyne]

He thought-giggles again. <I have no idea but you're adorable.>

[megale]

"I think you like me more than anybody else likes me, and I'm not exactly picked last for dodgeball."

[aeskhyne]

<I probably do, I really like you.>

Purrrr.

[megale]

"I don't even do anything interesting. I like it but I don't get it."

[aeskhyne]

<You don't do interesting, you are interesting. I like the way you go around being you all the time. It's fun and cute and nice.>

[megale]

"Silly pooka." Snuggle.

[aeskhyne]

Snuggle! Purr-snuggle.

[megale]

Lots of snuggle.

[aeskhyne]

So much snuggle. All the snuggle.

[megale]

Rhea seems perfectly prepared to do nothing but snuggle her kitty buddy for the rest of the day.

[aeskhyne]

Her kitty buddy seems pretty much prepared to do the same thing!

After something like an hour, though, he nuzzles her elbow and wriggles himself right-side up and departs her lap. <Gotta go human again for a bit,> he explains. <Mysterious shapeshifter reasons.>

[megale]

"Aww, 'kay." She sits up, stretches.

[aeskhyne]

Pooka kitty stretches too! He stretches right into being six feet tall. This time around he keeps the fluffy fur until almost the last moment, and then it all slurps back in at once. He giggles. "Wow, that tickled," he says, sitting up and wriggling a little.

[megale]

"It looks like it'd hurt."

[aeskhyne]

"It doesn't at all! Handy that way. Well, I wouldn't mind if it did, but most people probably would."

[megale]

"You wouldn't mind feeling your bones squish and whatnot, really?"

[aeskhyne]

He grins. "Nah, it'd be cool, I'd love it."

[megale]

"Weirdo pooka."

[aeskhyne]

"Yep!" he says cheerfully. "So hey, if I randomly kissed you right now, would that be fun?"

[megale]

She blinks, then says, "Dunno, wanna find out?"

[aeskhyne]

"Yeah!"

He leans over and kisses her.

[megale]

Mmmkiss!

[aeskhyne]

Mmmmm.

Well, he thinks it's fun. Does Rhea?

[megale]

She's grinning, is that a hint?